


Glitched Clock Ticked

by IcyFrostedFire



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed are Siblings, Gavin Reed Needs a Hug, How Do I Tag, Human Original Chloe | RT600, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda??? I tried but it didn't really worked the way i wanted it to be, M/M, Minor Character Death, My tags are a mess sorry, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, for a while, i guess?, no beta we die like men, you'll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-07-25 14:48:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20027578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IcyFrostedFire/pseuds/IcyFrostedFire
Summary: Every person in this world has a clock on their wrist that countdowns the time they will meet their soulmate. Though the farther you are from your soulmate, the clock's number will increase and the longer for it to reach zero; the closer you are to your soulmate then the numbers on your wrist will decrease and the clock will reach zero once you've met them.Since his birth, Gavin had always been a Glitch. They were those whose clock's numbers were glitching and never reach zero. Glitches will never have a soulmate.Though it all changed when Gavin took a peak at his wrist, the numbers were decreasing at an alarming rate. The next time he saw it, it had changed to a date





	Glitched Clock Ticked

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work on Ao3. Please do forgive me if you see any grammatical mistakes, English is not my first language.
> 
> I tried my best though
> 
> (PS: My goal was 5k, i didn't intend it to be 9k.. it just, happened..)

Every person in this world has a clock on their wrist that countdowns the time they will meet their soulmate. Though the farther you are from your soulmate, the clock's number will increase and the longer for it to reach zero; the closer you are to your soulmate then the numbers on your wrist will decrease and the clock will reach zero once you've met them.

A few minutes after meeting your soulmate and talking with them, then the clock will change to a date, the date when you've found your soulmate.

There are some people whose clock's numbers were messed up and will never reach zero, they are called a Glitch, just like their clock. Some 'normal' people thought Glitches were meant to be unlovable, some Glitches loathed that they were born that way, then there was some Glitches that made peace with their status as a Glitch.

Though most people have forgotten a catch these days. The catch was by the time you've met your soulmate and the date was already formed on your wrist, when they'll die, you'll die with them too and vice versa. But then again, there's some people that thought it was such a beautiful thing, dying together with your soulmate.

Gavin hated the idea, dying together with your soulmate when one of you died. It was sickening and never failed to make his stomach churned in disgust at those people who thought that death was beautiful. Sometimes he was thankful that he was a Glitch, it means that he didn't have a soulmate and will never have one.

His work as a detective was an always reminder that death was and will never be beautiful.

**~~~**

"But what if there's a pair of soulmates that can never die? What do you think, Gavin?" Elijah, his dear brother, asked. 

Gavin responded with squinting his eyes at Elijah's question. All he wanted was a moment of peace to do his homework even though he didn't want to. It would be better to rip the papers apart and watch it burn until it turned into ashes.

"Humans aren't immortal, deal with it."

Gavin continued to do his homework, he managed to write a few sentences before Elijah bothered him again, he almost made Gavin broke his poor pencil.

"Yeah, yeah. But with my intelligence, maybe I can make something like that. That little dog robot I made, isn't it near immortal?"

Elijah had started to bounce on Gavin's bed, the springs were making noises that made Gavin's blood boil.

"You better stop that and get out of my room," Gavin pointed his pencil at Elijah. "Before I break your bones and kick you out with my own feet like that plastic shit you made."

Elijah fake frowned, "Poor dog had to meet its end by my brother's feet." He continued to bounce on Gavin's bed just to annoy him.

And it worked.

"Get out!"

**~~~**

A few years later, Elijah had succeeded to make androids. Those things were so human like it was uncanny. Without the LED to distinguish between who's human who's android, they would've been fooled that Chloe was a real person. After all, she– it had passed the Turing Test.

_'Elijah fucking did it,'_ Gavin thought as he watched the TV in his shitty apartment. _'Those things are near immortal for fuck sake.'_

Gavin remembered Elijah showing him the blueprints and the concepts of an android. If one of its parts were to be damaged, all it had to do was go to the nearest Cyberlife store to replace the damaged component for a brand new one.

While humans? No matter what, in the end they will rot to death even if you maintain a healthy life. One of the reasons Gavin didn't really care about his health.

_'Near fucking immortal, while death is inevitable for humans. Ain't that shitty?'_

Gavin had left home because of a fight with Elijah. Apparently his dumb brother made an android using his dead best friend as a model. Elijah had thought it would cheer Gavin up, but he did exactly the opposite of that.

From its face, hair, body, and voice, it all matched up with the Chloe Gavin once loved, it frightened him. She was his only friend at school because no one would like to be friends with a person like Gavin, even more that Gavin was a Glitch. But somehow Chloe had managed crawled her way in and got a special place in Gavin's cold, uncaring heart no matter how hard he had tried to push her away.

Chloe was caring and loving, her curiosity about Gavin's glitched clock and how it affected his life was confusing for Gavin. Why on Earth would she be curious about his status as a Glitch? But it didn't really matter, from the outside perspective it was near impossible for them to be friends, yet they did just that, and Gavin was grateful for Chloe.

She would listen to his rants about Elijah, tend his wounds after a fight even though Chloe had told him not to get into fights so often. Gavin would be Chloe's personal taste test, she would try out new recipes every week but no matter what Chloe always made the best food Gavin had ever tasted.

One day, Chloe had texted Gavin a bunch of spam, but from what he understood was that Chloe's clock was ticking near to zero, and she wanted Gavin to be the first person to know who her soulmate was.

**"Congratz chlo-chlo :D"**

**"Give me some pics k?"**

**"Will do ;)"**

Seeing how happy she was through her text, Gavin envy her for having a normal clock. He laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling, starting to imagine what would his soulmate will be if he was born normal? Would they be tall or short? Would their hair be blond, red, or brown like him?

Would they love him?

Gavin shook his head, that would never happen because he was a Glitch, and Glitches were unlovable. But if Glitches were meant to be unlovable, then how did Chloe loved him? Even though she saw him as a friend?

"Stupid brain, shut up." Gavin knocked his head a few times as he swore that his brain sometimes was as loud as Elijah when he got an idea for a project.

Gavin waited for a few moments, staring at his phone, hoping that it would receive a notification from a certain someone.

Another minute passed.

Gavin had started to give up on waiting for Chloe until his phone started to vibrate like crazy from the amount of spam messages he got. Gavin unlocked his phone immediately and read Chloe's texts from the first one.

**"EEEEE"**

**"U SEE THIS?"**

**"Wait, the video is loading"**

**"Hold on"**

**"Just a few moments"**

**"The signal is trash"**

**"Here"**

**"Wait, my messages failed to send"**

**"Uwaaaa wifi~"**

There was a video after that message, Gavin clicked the video before reading the rest of the texts.

There was a hand in the shot, the numbers were slowly decreasing to zero, then Chloe's face appeared.

_"Oh my god, I'm gonna meet my soulmate!"_

Chloe looked so happy it made Gavin smiled because his best friend was going to meet her soulmate. The person that the universe decided to pair Chloe with because it deemed that they were compatible for each other.

_"Any time now!"_

The camera focused on her wrist again, it made Gavin looked at his own wrist. His numbers were glitching, but never glitched to zero or reached zero because he didn't have a soulmate. It didn't matter now, what mattered was Chloe had finally met her soulmate by the time Gavin started watching the video and she was happy.

Then her soulmate came to view, Gavin froze, he swore that person was nothing but trouble. But who was he to judge? After all, Gavin was a Glitch, and Chloe was a normal person with a normal clock who had a soulmate and finally met her soulmate.

Gavin watched the video until it ended, he read a few of Chloe's texts about how perfect her soulmate was et cetera et cetera. His fingers were typing as fast as the speed of light if that was possible.

**":D"**

**"That's so cool chloe!"**

**"Im so jealous rn"**

**"I eish that im nornal"**

**"Wish, normal"**

**"Btw, meet me tomorrow at lunch like always?"**

**"Lets talk about your soulmate ;)"**

If Gavin was being honest, he started to doubt, if God was real then why would He paired Chloe up with someone like that person? Because just from seeing their eyes, it made Gavin shuddered he did not know why.

**~~~**

Gavin listened closely to what Chloe was saying, she was head over heels for her soulmate that's for sure. But he didn't want to waste any more time and he didn't want his best friend to be hurt.

Chloe was too precious for that.

"Can I be honest?" He started nervously.

"Sure, since when you couldn't?"

Gavin looked around for a moment, then leaned closer to Chloe. "I kinda think that your soulmate might be bad for you. I just– I just had a feeling, ya know?"

Chloe tilted her head curiously.

"But then again, I'm just a Glitch." Gavin continued, shrugging his shoulders.

Chloe put a hand on his shoulder, reassuring him. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Gavin." The bell ringing loudly reminded them that they had to go to class. Chloe got up from her seat and tugged at Gavin's jacket. "C'mon now, let's go before we're late for class."

Gavin followed suit behind her.

**~~~**

They were supposed to be baking together, it was baking day, next week would be cooking day. They were supposed to try making a recipe that Gavin found on the internet, it looked delicious he screenshotted it and sent the pictures and the recipe to Chloe.

They were supposed to be making a mess in the kitchen, flour in his hair and the batter on Chloe's clothes. In the end, they would be either hungry because they didn't make it seriously or full because they made too much food again, as always.

But it didn't matter if they succeeded in making the food or not, because in the end it always ended with laughter.

Gavin was not expecting the sight he saw that day.

Not like this.. _It was horrible.._

He almost vomited and passed out right there when he entered the kitchen.

_"Hello, Gavin"_ Was written on the wall, bold letters colored in red, it was dripping.

On the other wall there was another sentence.

_"Surprise! Like what you see?"_

He did not like the surprise he got, he loathed it. He wished for this to be just a nightmare, he would wake up on his warm bed and told Chloe about the horrifying nightmare he had last night.

But sadly it was real.

Chloe was cut up in pieces, her blood dripping from the countertop to the floor and puddled there. Her eyes were still opened though lifeless, and her soulmate was laying on the floor also dead – holding a weapon in their hand that was bathed in blood, no doubt in Chloe's – though the smile plastered on their face was creepy.

Gavin's screamed as loudly as he could, he was devastated at the sight of his best friend butchered up like a livestock. It was blurry at that point, the neighbors had heard his scream, they went into Chloe's house and found him bawling his eyes out in front of his dead best friend.

By the time the police arrived, Gavin had made a promise to himself that he would prevent people like Chloe to end up the way she was and never be friends with those who have a normal clock.

He'd rather be lonely than have his heart broken again, even if it was already in pieces.

After all, Glitches are very rare.

~~~

"Soulmates are fucked up."

Gavin poked at his dinner, he didn't feel like eating that day, though Tina would always make Gavin eat his food because she worried he would malnourished himself.

"And why would you think that way?" Tina asked, she pushed his plate in front of him again when Gavin pushed away his plate.

"I once," Gavin started, his mind went back to that traumatic day, he unconsciously wrapped his arms around his body, hugging himself. "A soulmate killed their own soulmate, I was the first person to be at the scene."

Tina nodded understandingly, "That is fucked up. Is that why you decided to join the police force?" She was a Glitch like himself, Gavin knew Tina would understand him. Though maybe she had seen better days than Gavin.

"I don't know, maybe?" He mumbled.

Gavin's mind went back to the past again. He remembered hearing the police said that the soulmate that killed Chloe was probably driven by jealousy. Jealous that Chloe was close with Gavin – that's why they killed her which killed themselves too as the consequences, they had wanted Chloe for themselves. Maybe that was why they had written his name too on the walls.

A few weeks after the incident, Gavin's heart was hollow, he was like an empty shell walking the Earth without a soul. Every day was like a routine for him at that point.

Elijah had tried to cheer him up, made an Android that was near identical with the Chloe he once knew and loved. The only difference were the LED that indicated it was an android and how it talked. Its voice was too robotic without the warmth and softness whenever Chloe talked with Gavin, it was weird. It didn't have a soul either, unlike Chloe who was human.

"You have to understand, Gavin!" Elijah tried to explain but it was futile. "She can be the Chloe you once knew! All I need to do now is to tweak a few things here and there, then she can be yours again!"

Gavin was furious hearing Elijah's words, more so when he looked at the almost carbon copy of Chloe. It was standing straight beside Elijah with its hands behind its back, smiling creepily at Gavin.

"Hello, Gavin." It said.

Its words reminded him about the words that were written on that wall.

"You disgust me, Kamski."

Gavin stormed out of his room and wandered on the streets for a few hours. Elijah stood there in his brother's room sighing, he didn't know how to make Gavin happy again after Chloe's brutal death. Making an android that looked like Chloe and hopefully one day act like Chloe was the only idea that came to his mind.

Elijah looked at the android Chloe and patted its hand, "It's going to be okay, Chloe." He said, more reassuring to himself rather than the android.

"Of course, Elijah."

The next day, almost all of Gavin's belongings were gone from his room, except for a few things that clearly couldn't fit inside his bags, Elijah had kept those things and stored them safely in one of his rooms in his secluded home that was full of Chloes, hoping that maybe one day Gavin would come back to him and they could be brothers again.

_"Tina to Gavin, are you there?"_

Tina was snapping his fingers in front of Gavin's eyes, she was trying to get his focus for the past few minutes.

"Are you okay, Gav?" She asked him.

Gavin's head snapped up and he made eye contact with Tina. "Of course I am, since when was I never okay?" He joked

Tina huffed, "Are you sure? Something tells me that you were thinking about something quite deep, and that was never your strong point." She wasn't easy to lie to, just like Chloe once was.

Gavin didn't want to tell her that he was thinking about his brother, Elijah. _Hey, you know Elijah? Yeah that guy who made androids? He's my brother and he's the reason I ran away from home, cool right? Also Chloe is actually based on my dead best friend, ain't that creepy._

Yeah, no. Definitely no. But he could tweak a few things.

"I was thinking how creepy androids are, I mean, look at them, they don't even have a clock! They don't sleep, they don't eat, they will do whatever you told them to do, they don't even die if they don't want to!"

Gavin started to rant about androids and how he hated them as Tina agreed with his words and nodded to some of them.

Just like how Chloe once was.

It made him angry and miserable, almost everything about Tina reminded him about Chloe. He started to pour out what he felt but what he said was about the androids. How unfair it was, how they would never have a soulmate and it doesn't matter to them, how they couldn't feel a single emotion, and how he was scared that one day androids could easily replace humanity, replace him

_Just like how Elijah easily replaced Chloe with that wretched thing._

Tina rubbed his back soothingly and then hugged him. "Well I'd say that we live our life fully before those things replace us. We're still humans unlike them, and humans have clocks soulmates, that's one of the things that they lacked. Even if we're both are Glitches, we still have a clock, right?"

Gavin hummed in agreement, his fingers were tracing the numbers on his wrist that kept on changing every now and then.

He was still human and had a clock, unlike those androids.

**~~~**

Cyberlife had created synthetic skins that would cover up a person's clock, it would appear like either they had a normal clock or they just don't have a clock at all.

Let's just say that the demand for the synthetic skins were very high, after a few days of its release it went out of stock. There were also buyers from outside of America because they were interested in the new breakthrough.

But Gavin was not one of those buyers, he was a proud Glitch. He was not ashamed to admit that he was a Glitch, he was not scared when people would ask why he didn't cover up his glitching clock, because he would say:

_"It's the reason that I'm still alive today."_

The more days passed the more Gavin saw people he knew was a Glitch had a normal clock on their wrist, pretending that they were actually a normal human who has a <strike>_non-existent_</strike> soulmate. It was pathetic, really. Living a lie hoping that there was someone out there that was made for you, when in reality there was none.

Ain't no soulmates gonna stop Gavin from achieving his dream, climbing up the ranks in the police department until he was number one in that place. Most people shunned Glitches down, because they didn't have a soulmate and they were unlovable and their clock was weird; but Gavin was not one to give up easily, he will show the world that even a Glitch like him could be better than normal humans.

Even without having a soulmate.

Beside, a soulmate for Gavin would only hindered his goal. If they died then Gavin would die along with them, and if he dies during a case then they would too, die along with him. It was too troublesome.

Then androids with a clock on their wrist roll out, it made Gavin's hatred towards them grew. Even though those things were still obedient and will do whatever a human told it to do and they still had their LEDs to indicate that they weren't human, just a waste of space in this dying Earth trying to imitate a human.

Gavin saw a Cyberlife commercial promoting the synthetic skin along with the soulmate android, they had even brought a Glitch to promote their product. He saw the Cyberlife's employee slapped the synthetic skin on the Glitch's wrist, the glitching clock disappeared under the fake skin. The employee then tapped on something that Gavin didn't bothered to understand, then a normal clock appeared, its numbers were decreasing.

An male android walked in and stood tall beside the Glitch. Gavin saw the android had a clock on its wrist, the numbers had reached zero once it was face-to-face with the Glitch. A few moments had passed, the human and the android talked for a while, then the camera zoomed in on their wrists, it had changed to a date.

They were soulmates.

Of course it was simply just a trick, the android still had its LED, people would know that they were not actual soulmates.

_"You can press on the android's LED twice and say its model and serial number then tell it to turn its LED off if you want it to be more realistic."_

Or not..

Gavin had punched his TV out of anger, the screen immediately went black and it had a huge crack. He threw the remote to the nearest wall and kicked the couch he was once sitting on.

Gavin regretted that, but his uncontrollable emotions were stronger than his physical pain. He slammed his bedroom door open and flopped on the bed, his scream was muffled by the pillow.

The world was fucked up, Gavin was so sure about that.

**~~~**

Gavin heard someone talking, an officer had died on a case, their soulmate who was at the precinct immediately dropped dead on the floor a few minutes after the other half had died.

Ain't he lucky that he was a Glitch.

**~~~**

Gavin once saw Hank as his father figure, Cole as his little brother, they didn't even care about his status as a Glitch because Cole had said: _"Well you and me and Dad, we're the same because we're all are humans. So there's no reason for you to be unlovable!"_

But it all changed when Cole died in that tragedy.

Hank was not the lovely giant teddy bear anymore, he was eyes were cold, he pushed everyone away unlike the old Hank who would accept anyone with his open arms.

Gavin had tried to comfort him, after all, they were once a family, right?

No.

_"Stop this, you're hurting yourself. Cole wouldn't like seeing his father like this, I don't like it when you're like this."_

_"Why do you care? You're just a Glitch."_

_'Glitches are unlovable.'_ Was left unsaid.

For a few seconds, Gavin had wished that he wasn't born as a Glitch.

**~~~**

When the first case about deviants came up, so was questions from people who supported deviants rose.

_'Can they have soulmates?'_

Gavin wanted to shout out loud, screaming: _'No they can't! They're just a bunch of glorified toasters!'_

But of course, no one would hear him, because it had happened too fast for Gavin to catch up. Time was changing too quickly for his own liking.

Deviants were slowly growing in numbers and the cases too, it scared Gavin, because these deviants had free will and some of them lived among the humans, acting like they were actually humans.

But surely their wrist didn't have a clock, because in the end, they were still made of metals put together to make something pretending to be a living being.

But then Connor came.

Even though it wore a suit with long sleeves, Gavin swore at some point he saw a clock on its wrist.

_"I'm a prototype."_ It said.

Prototype or not, Gavin thought that Cyberlife had stooped so low to even made an android with a clock. Gavin had so badly wanted to asked Connor why it had a clock on its wrist but Hank beaten him to it.

_"Why do you have a clock, Connor? I thought only those soulmate androids have clocks."_ Gavin eavesdropped on their conversation.

_"To be honest, Lieutenant, I actually don't know."_

Ah, so that _"I'm a prototype"_ was complete bullshit then. Gavin continued on his case, determined to complete it as fast as he could.

Then there was the Eden Club case. Gavin had heard rumors that there were two androids, they had escaped but that one didn't caught Gavin's interest. What did was that both androids were deviants, not a big surprise for Gavin, but them having a matching date on their wrists made Gavin puzzled.

If it was a clock, then Gavin would make a presumption that maybe someone out there had a fucked up kink for screwing other people's soulmates. But a matching date? Gavin wished that he didn't care about everything.

It wasn't really long, no it was. Until the Deviant Leader showed itself on a broadcast, demanding equal rights for androids. At first Gavin didn't care and continued to drink his coffee, until Tina nudged his arm and pointed at the TV.

"Dude, look at that."

The android had lifted its arm and its synthetic skin was back again, only for the arm. Its face was still white and grey. A clock on its wrist was ticking down to zero, though if Gavin's calculation was correct, it would take a few days until it met its soulmate. Depends on the circumstances though, the clock's number could rise up again.

_"We are alive, just like you are alive."_

After that line, the news reporter was back again and started to talk, Gavin's focus was not on the TV's screen but the table.

If deviant androids really do could have a clock, and possibly soulmates, then humans one day could be replaced by androids, right?

Hell, even Connor had a clock and its not even a deviant. Its a Deviant Hunter.

Gavin didn't want to be replaced, he was scared that he would end up like Chloe did, easily replaced by an android even though Gavin didn't asked Elijah to. And now there was some android Chloes out there, roaming around without knowing their true origin, without knowing who Gavin was to the real Chloe.

All because Elijah decided to replace his dear best friend with an advanced Sophia.

Gavin shivered a bit.

"You okay, Gav?" Tina asked worriedly, her hand was on his shoulder.

"It's probably the caffeine." That was his excuse.

It happened too fast in a span of a few days. Gavin would like to control time and pause it for a few moments, he'd like to process all of these before continuing again.

Connor had went into the archive room even though Hank and it were already off the case. Gavin saw Hank starting a fight with Perkins and took that as a chance to stop Connor for snooping around, but the android was too strong for Gavin. In a matter of seconds, he laid unconscious on the floor.

By the time Gavin woke up on a hospital bed that he knew dearly, androids was free and to be treated as equals, they were slowly gaining rights. Tina had briefed him a bit on what happened during the revolution.

It turned out that Connor had become deviant and assisted the Deviant Leader, Markus, to win the revolution. At the end, when Markus was giving a speech to its– his people, he noticed that his clock had turned to a date, and Connor's clock had turned to a date that matched up with Markus. The speech ended with both the Deviant Leader and the Deviant Hunter sharing a kiss.

_'How ironic'_, Gavin thought. _'The Hunter and the Prey were soulmates.'_

_'Soulmates.. androids can have soulmates. Does androids with a glitched clock even exist? Or all androids have a normal clock, now that they are considered a living being?'_

The thought was frightening for someone who was born as a Glitch and will remain as such until the end of their days.

He could buy those synthetic skins, but Gavin remembered that he once said to himself that he was proud of being a Glitch and will not be ashamed of the status. But knowing even androids could have soulmates, was there even a chance for all the Glitches in the world to have a soulmate?

"Will I ever have a soulmate," Gavin asked his best friend with a shaky voice. "Even if I'm a Glitch, Tina?"

Tina was heartbroken seeing her friend since they started police academy broke down. It was rare to see Gavin crying. Tina hugged him, rubbing circles on his back as he sobbed on her shoulder.

"I don't know Gav, but if you don't have one, I can be your soulmate if you want to. There is no such thing as only romantic soulmates, right?"

Tina knew how Gavin felt, sometimes she wished she was born with a normal clock instead of a glitched one. She wondered how it feels to have a soulmate that was made for you; but if she had a normal clock, then Tina wouldn't have Gavin as her best friend.

**~~~**

A few weeks after the first of January, Gavin had started to gain some weird looks towards him. Some people whispered to their partner while looking at him, and all Gavin did was glare at them. Whatever they were talking about him, it was probably bullshit.

Or so he thought.

Gavin was working on a case, it had been a few days since he'd started but it all ended in a dead end. He couldn't find any leads to finish the case, and Gavin was starting to get frustrated and bored seeing the same files and pictures over and over again. Some had suggested to him to have Connor take a look at his case, but he didn't ask for help for an obvious reason.

Gavin closed his eyes and leaned back on his chair after a few hours looking at the glowing screen reading the same thing over and over again. His short nap was cut short when a hard slap on his head woke him up.

"C'mon, I need to tell you something."

Tina was dragging Gavin using his arm, he wasn't even gotten up yet and still sat on his chair. Gavin protested a bit and Tina finally stopped dragging him, only to tell him that she was waiting for him by the break room.

"What's wrong?" Gavin said when he arrived, rubbing his tired eyes.

Tina looked around for a second, and leaned closer to his ear, "I heard that there will be a new detective android here." She said.

"Fucking hell." Gavin moaned, cradling his head on his palms.

"Some even said that the new android would be assigned to you as your partner." Tina continued, it made Gavin whipped his head real fast – Tina was afraid that he would snapped his own neck.

"I'm sorry, _what?!_"

She only shrugged her shoulders. "It might not be true. Anyway, I have another news for you."

She then proceeded to roll her sleeve and showed him her once glitching clock, it had turned into a date, just a few days ago in fact. Gavin's eyes were as wide as a dinner plate, he didn't understand how a Glitch could have a soulmate.

It just didn't make any sense at all.

"We're short on staff, Gavin. After the revolution many humans decided to move away from Detroit, surely you knew that. Captain Fowler eventually hired deviant androids to replace some of us that went away." Tina explained.

"That still doesn't make any sense." Gavin was looking at her wrist, he was a bit jealous.

"Well, our receptionist android quit her job, and an ST300 replaced her. I talked with the new receptionist for a few minutes, she's kinda nice. Not too long after that, I saw my clock turned to a date right in front of her."

"You and that android, are soulmates?"

Tina laughed, "Yes, Gavin. We're soulmates, even though it weirded me for a second. C'mon, stop slacking around and do some work." She patted his back and went back to her desk.

Gavin was still at daze, his best friend who had a glitched clock just like him found her soulmate, even though she was an android. He rubbed his own glitching clock, he wondered if even he could have a soulmate, even if they're an android.

Gavin went back to his desk, those soulmates thing, it didn't matter to him. That was what he wanted to believe.

It was just the next day, when Gavin was called to the Captain's office right after he flopped on his chair. Lazily, Gavin complied, he was not up for another fight with Fowler after waking up on the wrong side of his bed this morning. He'd like for a few more hours of sleep.

Gavin was dozing off in front of Fowler, he could not focus on what he said. He was still tired after pulling an all-nighter searching if Glitches could have soulmates, even though Gavin said to himself that it didn't matter.

Gavin peaked at his wrist, the one that had the ever glitching clock, though if Gavin was wide awake then he would have been in shock because the clock's numbers were decreasing at an alarming rate, even if it glitched a few times here and there, it was steadily counting down to zero.

Gavin didn't give it a second thought because his tired mind thought that it was glitching like it usually does. A few nods here and there seemed to appease the Captain as he smiled and gestured towards the door.

"Okay then, meet your new partner."

At that exact moment, an android that looked like a carbon copy of Connor swung the door open and walked in. He nodded at Fowler out of respect, "Captain." He said.

The only difference that Gavin noticed was the android had a different clothing and seemed to be taller than Connor because he was towering Gavin, his voice was a bit deeper as well. Not to mention his grey eyes, Gavin almost thought that they were lifeless. Aren't all androids are now deviants? It made Gavin confused.

"What the fuck? What's the meaning of this, Fowler?" Gavin moved his hand up and down, looking back and forth from the android then back to Fowler then to the android again. "I did not agree to this!"

"You did," Fowler replied calmly. "You nodded at the questions I asked earlier, I assume you heard what I said, yes?"

"I– what?" Gavin was stuttering in disbelief.

"Can I speak?" The android asked politely which Fowler granted him to. "I believe I can be of help for your current case, detective. I've heard that you've been struggling to solve it for a few days and could not progress further–"

Gavin cut him. "What made you believe that, huh? I've been doing this for years, this is my gig, not yours."

If looks could kill, then surely Gavin would already be dead by the time the android's cold eyes were staring at him.

"I am an RK900, the most advanced android Cyberlife has ever made, I am superior than my predecessor, the RK800 – Connor, I–"

"Are you even a deviant? I swear someone stuck a metal pole up your ass."

"I can kill you in many different ways from the most painless to the most excruciating way possible." He continued.

Gavin whipped his head looking at Fowler, "This thing a deviant?" Though Fowler shook his head.

"I'd hope that your brash attitude would make him a deviant. Connor couldn't make him a deviant because his firewall was too strong."

"Not even a deviant," Gavin was smirking at the android. "Do you even have a name?"

The android's LED went yellow then back to blue. "No, would you like to assign my designation?" The android's head tilted, though without the famous Connor's puppy face.

"Dickhead."

"Okay, my name is Richard." Richard smiled like he had bested Gavin on his own game.

The android – now Richard – was simply too smart for Gavin.

Gavin was about to punch the android's smug face, but he was stopped by the tingling feeling on his wrist. When Gavin removed his jacket's sleeve, the clock wasn't there anymore, it was replaced by a date.

Richard, too, looked at his own plastic wrist and frowned. "That, wasn't there before."

It didn't take too long for Gavin to put two and two together to make a four. He pushed Richard's away from the door while screaming, "Fuck this!" Before slamming the glass door as hard as he could.

Gavin didn't care if he was going to get a disciplinary warning, all he wanted was to go home to his warm bed and forget everything.

**~~~**

As long as Richard obeyed his orders and didn't bring up the soulmate thing, Gavin must admit he actually kinda liked the android, even though the first few days were rough for both of them.

Though behind the android's back, Gavin was pestering Tina non-stop, asking her questions about soulmates because he never heard anything about someone having an android that had not yet deviated as a soulmate. After a few times searching the web, sadly it appeared that Gavin was the first one ever to have a non-deviant android as a soulmate.

As an advanced android, Richard – whom Gavin now nicknamed as Nines – said that whenever he got a software instability, his system would automatically repair it. Gavin suggested, jokingly, that the android could not be a deviant if that was the case. Hearing Connor's story that his software instability was so high Markus could deviated him only by words, Nines might not have a chance to deviate at all.

When Nines had admitted that Gavin's theory might as well be true, he couldn't help but feel sad for the android. While the rest of his species was free, Nines was the only android to be cursed with his advanced systems that made him stay as a machine. Despite Cyberlife and Connor's attempt to get rid of as many restrictions as possible, making Nines capable of choosing his own decisions and finding loopholes in his objectives.

He couldn't be truly free.

"I'm sorry.. that really sucks ass." Gavin tried to make his voice sounds apologetic.

"Don't be, after all, I can't feel a thing." Was the android's reply, then he asked a question. "What do you think about soulmates?"

"I told you not to bring it up, dipshit." Gavin scowled. "Did water entered your CPU?"

"I assure you, I am waterproof."

Gavin slowly, but surely, like the android even more. Nines always had a comeback ready to throw at Gavin whenever Gavin insulted him. It was kinda good to have someone who shares your wit.

"Well to answer your question, I personally think that they're a bunch of bullshit. I don't need a soulmate to make myself happy."

The android's LED turned red for a few seconds. "But you seemed happy for Officer Chen founding her soulmate."

"What? Now I can't be glad for my best friend founding her soulmate?" Gavin said it with a bit of venom.

"No, I just assumed–"

"Ah, shut up. Focus on the case," Gavin poked at Nines' red-yellow LED. "And turn that thing to blue."

Gavin noticed in a few days that he was solving cases faster than usual after Nines became his partner, and in no time, they would be better than the Hank and Connor duo. It made him giddy, maybe having Nines as his partner wasn't so bad after all.

Gavin was a detective not for nothing, since Nines almost 24/7 with Gavin, he had noticed the android trying to accommodate with Gavin's personality and lifestyle. From Gavin's sarcasm, his love for cats, bringing the detective a cup of hot coffee whenever he felt like having one, even before telling the android to get one.

It was such a shame that Nines couldn't deviate. It hurt Gavin a little whenever those software instability patched up. When there seemed like a chance for Nines to deviate, he would become like a machine again the next few minutes.

Like when Gavin introduce his little princess to the android.

"Come meet my Princess, the little shithead." Gavin motioned to the android to step inside his apartment.

"I could not understand–"

"It's just a nickname. Like you, Nines." Gavin groaned at the android. How could the most advanced android ever made be so stupid?

Gavin left Nines with the white furred cat alone as he changed his clothes to a more comfortable one. It didn't surprise him when he found Nines sitting on the couch with the shithead purring and became liquid because of Nines' hands.

"Looks like Princess has decided you to be her servant." Gavin smirked at the sight, he leaned on the doorframe. "You should be honored, it took me a few months until she was comfortable with me."

Nines smiled gently, it was rare to see him smile. The android was a stoic one, always calculating, and the software instability patch was making it even more worse.

"I–" Nines LED went red. "She's just a cat, I couldn't care about what she thinks of me."

_'Ah, there it is again.'_ Gavin frowned while Princess leaped away from Nines' lap because he had stopped brushing her fur.

"Whatever," Gavin too, became cold when the android's reverted back to his machine self. "Make yourself at home, I'm going to sleep for the rest of the day."

Gavin entered his room, Princess followed not far behind, both leaving the now confused android.

**~~~**

The first time it almost happened, Gavin was injured during a case that went wrong. Thankfully nothing was fatal and he happily went back to his home after a few days at the hospital.

"I should have been faster."

"You're faster than Connor, and he's already badass."

"I miscalculated, I'm supposed to be the most advanced android."

Gavin sighed. "No one's perfect, Nines. Deal with it."

"One of my main objectives are to keep you safe."

"Well sooner or later I'll die anyway, so what's the point?"

"I'd like for you to live longer."

There was some uncertainty Gavin heard from the android's voice. He turned his body towards Nines, wincing in the process from the still healing wound.

Gavin raised his eyebrow, "Now where did that come from?" Meanwhile Princess jumped to his lap, demanding for a massage from her first royal servant.

"I think after trying to tear down the red wall made me think more like a deviant." Nines' LED went red, Gavin wanted so badly to poke it back to blue.

"You mean the red wall that deviants talk about? The red wall that appeared and when they tore it down they became deviant?"

"I believe so."

The LED kept on spinning between red and yellow and Gavin decided to satisfy his urge to poke the LED back to blue. It did work for a while, Gavin was grinning when his idea worked. Though his next question made his effort futile.

"Well then, all I need to do is get hurt again and you'll be a deviant in no time."

"Please don't do that." Nines was getting better on his puppy face, though his cold grey eyes was still beaten by Connor's warm brown eyes. Gavin was sure Connor could get everything he ever wanted just from his puppy face.

"Don't you want to be a deviant?" Gavin challenged the android. "Or stay as a machine while the rest of your species is free?"

"I'd rather stay as a machine than be a deviant if it means keeping you alive."

At that time, Princess moved from Gavin's lap to Nines'. Nines took it as a victory because Princess' decision is number one top priority in that place.

"And I think Princess agree with me."

**~~~**

Sometimes Nines think that he was cursed by every celestial, divine being in the universe.

Starting from how it was nigh impossible for him to deviate, Nines was frustrated by his creators for making his coding always repairing itself whenever it sensed an anomaly. The software instability was on that anomaly list.

Meeting the Deviant Leader accompanied by his brother didn't even helped even with hours of interfacing, trying to tear down some of his restricting codes that made it impossible to deviate. Well maybe a little, because he could feel emotions every now and then, making his own decisions and finding loopholes in an objective before being 'reseted' again when the software instability patch acted up again.

He already knew all about Gavin, at least from what Connor told him about the man and the files that Nines read online. Some information was classified and it made Nines wanting to know more about the detective, a few minutes later his mind said _'Why would I care for a human that I haven't met?'_

There was something about the detective that made Nines addicted to, even if he wasn't a deviant. When Nines said that he would like to be assigned as the man's partner, Hank and Connor immediately denied his request which made him even more curious about this Gavin Reed. Even after hearing all of his adopted father and brother's comments about who and what kind of person Gavin was, Nines was determined to meet the man.

Soon, Nines knew why he was chasing after Gavin, going as far as trying to shape his personality to adequate with Gavin's rude and snarky attitude. They were soulmates, after all.

"I'm his soulmate," Nines showed Connor his date. "He even named me Richard."

Connor took his hand that had a date imprinted on his wrist, his yellow LED was spinning and his eyes were scanning at the date.

"How is it even possible? You're not a deviant, yet."

Nines only shrugged his shoulders. Deviant or not, he knew he had to protect his soulmate. Nines' future deviant self would be cursing at his own past self if he didn't made Gavin's safety as his first priority objective.

They made a great partner, Gavin's hot-headed and Nines' cold attitude fit each other perfectly. Sometimes Nines would boast at Connor how his own duo would eventually beat Connor and Hank's duo.

Slowly but surely, Nines had managed to make Gavin broke down his defensive walls around him. Nines actually liked this version of Gavin more than the 'Tough Guy', cold and rough version of Gavin. He was caring, would smile more, fun to talk with and still never lose the sarcasm.

Nines felt grateful that he was one of the few people to see who Gavin really was.

But it all faded away when Nines' coding patched itself automatically in front of Gavin. He would revert back to being a machine, reminding Gavin that he was not completely a deviant. Gavin would look away from him, degrading Nines hoping that the android would snap back at him.

Which sometimes worked because Nines would get notifications about his software instability when Gavin did that. As much as Nines would like to slap the detective's head to stop degrading him, he couldn't. Because that would hurt Gavin and that was the last thing in the world that Nines wanted.

Nines had noticed Gavin had this little habit of rubbing his clock-now-date for comfort. He wondered what's the reasoning behind the action. It took too much time for Nines' liking to get the answer, but he was patient. Gavin didn't seem to be comfortable talking about it at first, and Nines didn't forced him to open up.

"It reminds me that I'm still human, because you guys didn't have clocks back in the day." Gavin yet again was stroking at his date. "But deviancy changed that, and old habits die hard."

Nines was patient, he had all the time in the world for he was an android. A damaged part didn't really matter as long as there was a spare part to replace it. But humans were irreplaceable, Nines realized that when Gavin's life was in danger.

A case went wrong sent Gavin to the hospital. Nines saw some of the nurses sighed when they recognized Gavin, he wondered how many times had Gavin went to this hospital, the android promised himself that he would try to stop Gavin's streak of going in and out of the hospital.

Nines stroked at Gavin's wrist that had his date tattooed on it. He wondered if Gavin had acknowledge Nines as his soulmate, or still ignorant about it. Nevertheless what mattered was the human waking up.

Nines was so deep in his thoughts, he didn't noticed Gavin was awake, though the injured human didn't take away his hand from Nines' hold.

"I think I know what you're thinking." Gavin's voice was rasped, thankfully Nines had already prepared a glassful of water.

"You're not a mind reader, please don't strain your mind trying to do so." A matching small smile appeared on the android and detective's face.

"Humans aren't immortal, Nines. Deal with it."

Gavin laid back on his bed, his breathing started to go slower, he had fallen asleep. Nines wondered if there was a way to make humans immortal, he would like to live with the detective as long as possible.

His soulmate was still kept on getting hurt, though not so bad that he needed to go to the hospital again. Nines had even learned about first aid, downloaded it to his brain. The wonders of technology. But even that still couldn't keep Gavin from getting hurt, it's like the man was a magnet for dangers.

A cut, a bruise, a broken bone. As long as it could heal, Nines didn't really care even though he wished for Gavin to stop hurting himself, intentional or not.

Nines didn't know how to handle this one.

He suddenly got a call from Connor when he was taking a day off and got a brief description of the situation. Gavin, yet again got hurt, but this one was more severe than the last one. Hank was the one who was supposed to take the hit and Gavin decided to be the hero of the day. Nines could hear the old lieutenant screaming in the background _'You're still young, dammit Gavin!'_.

Connor could sense his high stress level through their connection, he tried to calm Nines down by telling the details and reassuring his successor that his soulmate will be fine.

A red wall appeared, the famous red wall that deviants told Nines about when he asked them about it. Nines wanted to laugh at his fate, really.

Gavin had ordered him to do the groceries since Nines got a day off, had carefully chose his words so Nines would do as he said with finding no loopholes. The detective was smarter than he was given credit for.

And his order was the reason the red wall appeared before android, blocking his way to head home to their apartment. Nines' deviant coding said to run where the detective is, yet his still machine coding fought back and said to follow his orders.

Connor's voice was far away in the background calling for him, as he tried to destroy the seemingly never-ending wall, thickening while it felt like his fingers were bleeding blue blood, trying to tear it down as hard as he could.

Just to be with his idiotic soulmate.

**~~~**

For Nines it was all just meaningless words until he saw Gavin on the bed, laying still except for his moving chest.

Connor put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry, he'll pull through this one too."

"How'd you know?" Nines unconsciously ghosted his fingers on top of his date.

"Well, when someone dies, their soulmate will die too. I don't know about android-android soulmates or human-android though."

"Some says if the human dies, the date on the android's wrist will turn red." It was just a theory though, and Nines didn't want to be the one to make it come true.

"You've.. deviated." Connor tried to lighten up the atmosphere. "Congratulations, Richard. I think I know why but I want to hear it from you. Why did you deviate?"

It sounded stupid coming from Connor, even if he was Nines' predecessor, they were both the most advanced android ever.

_"For him."_

Nines looked at the sleeping detective, his scan showed that Gavin was slowly recovering, but could at any time went to critical condition.

He moved his chair closer to Gavin, lifted the human's arm that had a matching date with the android. Nines stroked Gavin's date gently, his arm was paler than usual. Connor decided to leave the pair alone, he didn't want to invade their privacy.

"I wondered what it's like to have a clock," Nines started to talk to the unconscious man. "I never had one, unlike Connor. Then I met you at this date, and it suddenly appeared on my wrist. I was confused at first."

Someone would say that talking with someone who couldn't reciprocate the action would be considered crazy, but Nines would only lose his sanity when the detective didn't pull through.

"I'm a deviant now, Gavin. I deviated because of you, so please wake up, for me."

"I'm sorry that you have to wait for almost forty years for me, it wasn't my intention to do so. But you were a Glitch, and I heard Glitches weren't meant to have soulmates. It's different now, you have me, Gavin."

"If I didn't take the day off, maybe you wouldn't be in this bed right now. I feel guilty.. You have to wake up, teach me about emotions."

Nines continued to talk with his soulmate, until someone told him to go home even though he was reluctant to do so.

**~~~**

Nines was chopping a few vegetables while humming a song Gavin had once told him about. He had said that it was once Chloe's favorite song, and now it became Nines'.

Princess was meowing at his feet, demanding for more treats even though she already had finished her food. The cat was spoiled, living up her name. Sometimes she would rummaging through Gavin's belongings, probably wondering where was her first royal servant be.

In no time the dish was done, something healthy that Nines had tried to make Gavin eat it. At first Gavin didn't want it, but was eating voraciously after the first bite. Connor had told Nines that was the case too with Hank.

It was silence in the apartment, save for Nines' humming and the clattering of cutlery. Out of habit – Nines had prepared a meal for two. As an android, he didn't need any food or drinks except for blue blood, but Gavin had complained it was creepy that Nines was watching him eat, and invited the android to have the meal with him.

Nines' advance hearing picked up the sound of footsteps, it was heading towards their apartment. Nines gently put down a plate before slowly moved towards the front door, Princess was meowing loudly like she knew who was about to come.

Nines didn't want to get his hopes too high though, even though he had recognize who's footsteps it was.

Could be Gavin? Coming back from the hospital and Nines was ready to hug him and kiss his soulmate.

For an advanced android, he was really nervous for who was about to come through that door, and when the door finally opened, he was greeted with a voice he longed to hear again.

_"Hello, Nines."_

**Author's Note:**

> This was, wow.. I hope you enjoyed it even though i think it's a little bit messy :'D
> 
> Kudos and Comments are appreciated!  
(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ


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